Postal voting

A possibility to vote by post will be introduced in Finland in the parliamentary elections of 2019. Eligible voters living permanently abroad and eligible voters staying abroad at the time of the elections will have the right to vote by post in general elections. An eligible voter wishing to vote by post orders the postal voting documents to an address abroad, casts his or her vote, and sends the vote back to Finland to the central municipal election board of his or her municipality.

Here is what you should do:

In postal voting, the voter himself or herself is responsible for ordering the necessary postal voting documents from the Ministry of Justice early enough. The postal voting documents can be ordered three months before the election day at the earliest. An assistant may be used for placing the order.

By ordering the postal voting documents, the eligible voter expresses his or her willingness to vote by post in the elections in question. The eligible voter's name and personal identity code and the postal address abroad to which the documents will be sent must be given in the order. The address given may also be a temporary one, if the eligible voter is staying somewhere else than at his or her permanent place of residence at the time of the elections.

Postal voting documents cannot be ordered to an address located in Finland.

An eligible voter who has ordered the postal voting documents will be sent a postal voting pack containing the following documents:

a ballot,

a postal ballot envelope, in which the ballot is inserted,

a postal vote covering letter, which the voter must fill in,

a postal vote covering envelope, in which the ballot envelope and the covering letter are inserted, and

postal voting instructions drawn up by the Ministry of Justice.

The voter may vote when the candidate numbers are confirmed. The eligible voter himself or herself must find out the number of the candidate that he or she wants to vote for. The candidate numbers are published around one month before the election day. Candidate information is available for example on the elections website of the Ministry of Justice vaalit.fi.

The instructions accompanying the postal voting documents must be followed in the voting. First, the voter marks the number of the candidate he or she wants to vote for on the ballot, inserts the ballot in the postal ballot envelope, and seals the envelope. Next, the voter carefully fills in the postal vote covering letter and signs it.

In postal voting, the voter himself or herself is responsible for marking the ballot and putting it into the ballot envelope in such a manner that election secrecy and electoral freedom are maintained. The voter must sign an attestation concerning this on the covering letter. Two witnesses must be present when the voting takes place. The witnesses must also sign the attestation on the covering letter stating that election secrecy has been preserved and electoral freedom respected while voting. The witnesses must have reached the age of 18. The spouse, child or parent of the voter or a person standing as a candidate in the elections in question or a family member of a candidate cannot be a witness. The witnesses need not be Finnish citizens.

At the end of the voting, the voter puts the ballot envelope and the covering letter into the covering envelope and seals it. The name and address of the central municipal election board to which the vote will be sent must be visible in the window of the covering envelope.

The voter must send the covering envelope, containing the ballot sealed in the ballot envelope and the covering letter, to Finland to the central municipal election board of the municipality in which the voter has the right to vote according to the voting register (voting municipality). The voter himself or herself is responsible for finding out which municipality this is. If the voter has received a polling card, he or she may copy the name and address of the correct central municipal election board to the covering envelope or insert the entire polling card in the envelope so that the name and address are visible in the window. If the voter does not have a polling card, he or she may call the service number of the Ministry of Justice or the Population Register Centre to inquire the correct municipality, for example.

The voter must put enough postage on the covering envelope. In other words, postage is not prepaid. Finally, the voter posts the covering envelope to Finland through the postal service of the foreign country in the same manner as any other postal item. The voter may also choose to post the envelope as a registered letter, but this is not necessary. The covering envelope may not be posted from Finland. It absolutely must be posted from abroad. If the country of origin is not indicated on the envelope, the vote may be disregarded. As an alternative to the postal service, the voter may also use an international courier service of his or her choice for delivering the vote to the central municipal election board in Finland.

Things to take into account when voting by post

Once the voter has posted the postal vote covering envelope to Finland, the vote has been cast and the voter can no longer vote in the elections in question, for example at a mission abroad or at a polling station in Finland. A postal vote is final, in the same manner as all other votes, and it cannot be changed or replaced later.

The same standards apply for postal voting as for regular voting taking place before election authorities. For example, voting more often than once or in another person’s name is an offence punishable under the Criminal Code, as is influencing another person's voting by violence or threat of violence.

Make sure that your contact details are up-to-date

The Population Register Centre sends a notice of right to vote (polling card) to all eligible voters whose address is known. The polling card is sent to the voters around 1.5 months before the election day. The polling card indicates the address to which you must return your postal vote (the address of the central municipal election board of your municipality). Therefore, it is important that you make sure well in advance that your contact details are up-to-date in the Population Information System.